On the Use of Scripture in Evangelism

AIV has had two very different evangelism trainings these last two weeks. Allen Wakabayashi presented a newer, more "cutting-edge", holistic approach to evangelism, while David Givens gave a more traditional, practical presentation on evangelism. Allen Wakabayashi talked about the role of the kingdom and the relation between Jesus' death and resurrection with broader issues such as suffering and social injustice, in addition to simply personal sin. David Givens concentrated on the more traditional Roman Road, Four Spiritual Laws, Bridge Diagram-esque kind of evangelism. Both emphasized relational evangelism. Both emphasized asking questions. Both emphasized gentleness and respect. Both were based on Scripture and Biblical, but there was a significant difference in the different gospel presentations that were offered, and this is what I want to concentrate on.

Allen Wakabayashi's gospel presentation has no explicit, required Bible verses. In many gospel presentations, there are "required" verses that the presenter needs to memorize, such as the previously mentioned Roman Road to salvation, which David Givens especially emphasized. One of the ladies that was at the Wakabayashi training actually pointed out the fact that in his entire mock presentation, Allen Wakabayashi never got actually quoted from Scripture. Wakabayashi replied:

"I find that in society today, people don't consider the Bible as authoritative as they did in the past, when most of the older gospel presentations were developed."

Wakabayashi basically said that no longer would believe something just "because the Bible told me so", that Scripture isn't considered truth, as it was to a greater extent in the past. I know that it seems weird to suggest that a gospel presentation doesn't need to quote Scripture, and I don't say these things to bash Wakabayashi's gospel presentation or suggest that he is a heretic, because he himself said that Scripture is important (who wouldn't?), but it raised a few questions in my own head.

Is Scripture necessary in a Gospel presentation?

The answer to this question may seem immediately obvious, but I think it's still important. The question isn't whether or not Scripture is necessary for Christian life, but whether or not it is necessary for an explanation of the Christian worldview. Now, everything said will (hopefully) be Biblical and based on Scripture, but the question is whether or not quoting Scripture is necessary. The next question may help us find the answer.

Does a Scripture quotation hold the same authority if you don't make it explicit that it is a Bible quotation?

So the question here is of the hearer's knowledge that a statement is a direct quotation from the Bible. We can all think of multiple situations where the weight of what you're saying could be increased if you quote a Bible verse, but most of these are when you are dealing with Christians. What about people that have no regard for the Word of God? Does quoting some truth as a Bible verse give you any advantage? In some cases, won't it be counterproductive by turning people off to the ideas presented?

What about paraphrasing Scripture? Do I really need to quote Romans 3:23? Can't I just give the explanation immediately instead of making a non-Christian do the difficult task of interpretation of Scripture (as David Givens suggested)? If I can explain the Gospel by paraphrasing Scripture, do I still need to quote it?

After thinking about it for a little bit, I think it all comes down to this:

Does the authority of Scripture come from its perceived truthiness, or is the authority intrinsic?

To me, the authority of Scripture is intrinsic. God's Word is God's Word, whether it's spoken or read. The authority of Scripture doesn't come from a perception that it is truth, but that it simply is the truth, and much of this truth has been revealed to all. Even if a person's mind doesn't accept the Bible as truth, at some level, every person's heart does (Romans 1:20).

Hebrews 4:12 - "For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."

I don't claim to know the answer for all the questions I have just raised, but I think it's better to be safe and just quote Scriptures when necessary. After all, it's God's Word, not ours.

Fun Pictures from the Weekend:

Cory and I were doing equipment up north at Willowtree. Since we normally drive onto the grass to make carrying all the heavy equipment less painful, I tried it again, not realizing how muddy it was. My car got stuck in the mud, with my right tires being totally underground. After a little bit of struggling, we managed to get the car out of our self-created ditch. Yay.